Bio-inspired Bridge Design - Biotechnologies and Biomimetics for Civil Engineering - page 245

domain of structure via an iterative numerical process under specific constraints.
An up-to-date summary on recent topology optimization techniques and applica-
tions in a variety of disciplines can be found in Deaton and Grandhi ( 2013 ).
Nonuniform rational B-Splines (NURBS)-based isogeometric analysis is
another geometric numerical modeling technique that optimize the form and the
material distribution either in separate or in simultaneous fashions (Bletzinger
et al. 2010 ; Firl and Bletzinger 2012 ; Nagy et al. 2013 ; Wall et al. 2008 ). Other
recent case studies on the form-finding techniques support a variety of design
innovation on structural forms, which could achieve efficiency, economy, and
elegance (Bel Hadj Ali et al. 2010 ; Bletzinger and Ramm 2001 ; Burry et al. 2005 ;
Li et al. 2010 ; Richardson et al. 2013 ; Xu and Luo 2010 ).
Another reason for slow pace to meaningful bio-inspired application on the
civil infrastructure is the lack of such courses in the engineering curriculum. The
good news is that some universities do offer a bio-inspired course to teach students
to work in a multidisciplinary environment and learn the principle from nature. For
example, a course titled ''Exploring Bio-Inspired Systems in Architecture'' at the
University of Minnesota co-taught by an architecture professor (Marc Swackh-
amer) and a biology professor (Neil Olszewski).
They followed the traditional architectural teaching approach in terms of
design, modeling, and fabrication, but architectural students will receive inter-
esting input from a biology professor that may help them expand their thinking on
conceptual design. MIT offered a course in biologically inspired digital design and
fabrication course aimed at introducing the emerging interface of engineering and
biology and to explore the logic and principles of natural systems through mul-
tiscale modeling and experiment. A ''Bio-Inspired Design'' course at TU Delft
gives an overview of nonconventional mechanical approaches in nature and shows
how this knowledge can lead to more creativity in mechanical design.
The University of Bath provides a graduate-level course ''Biomimetics'' to
encourage student to extract design principles by introducing a variety of natural
materials, structures, and mechanisms. A similar course can also be found at
Georgia Institute of Technology. The latest endeavors on teaching and education
aspects of promoting bio-inspired studies can be found in many studies (Bruck
et al. 2006 ; Glier et al. 2011 ; Helms et al. 2009 ; Jenkins 2011 ; Santulli and
Langella 2011 ; Stone et al. 2014 ; Wiltgen et al. 2011 ).
10.4 Summary
The multidisciplinary environment in the design field is pushing engineers to come
up with new innovations in structural design. Compared to bio-inspired philosophy
in architectural design and mechanical design, the development of bio-inspired
design on bridge structures is far behind. This chapter reviewed some recent
projects to highlight those endeavors made in this field. It is shown that the bio-
inspired method can help engineers address both traditional issues (efficiency,